Charlotte

Charlotte Brontë dazzled the world with some of literature's most vital, richly-drawn characters. She spent her brief but extraordinary life in search of love – and eventually found it with Arthur Bell Nicholls, her father's curate, a reserved yet passionate Irishman. The pair honeymooned in Ireland, though their joy was quenched nine months later when Charlotte died in March 1855. The aura of mystery surrounding the enigmatic author was only to intensify after her death.

Charlotte is the story of two marriages and three lives irrevocably intertwined, told by the woman who went on to wed Brontë's widower. Theirs was a love triangle of devotion and heartache, friendship and deception, passion and obsession.

Martina Devlin's enthralling novel re-envisions Charlotte's pivotal time in Ireland, weaving back and forth through the novelist's life and afterlife. It reflects upon the myths built up by those who knew her, those who thought they did, and those who longed to.

   



 'I was utterly enthralled by this fictional rendering of Charlotte Brontë's life—and its aftermath—as viewed through the eyes of her husband's second wife. This is a powerful and compelling novel that expertly imagines the lives and times of those closest to Brontë, and captivates the reader with its cleverness and eloquence.' Mary Costello





   



 'In   Charlotte  , the raw gold of Charlotte Brontë's marriage to Arthur Nicholls has been wrought in a wonderful artefact; this is a beautiful novel full of mystery, intrigue and story.' Carlo Gébler



Martina Devlin has written novels, plays and short stories. She has won the Royal Society of Literature's V.S. Pritchett Prize, a Hennessy Literary Award, and been shortlisted three times for the Irish Book Awards. She writes a weekly current affairs column for the Irish Independent for which she has won a number of prizes, including National Newspapers of Ireland commentator of the year. She holds a PhD in literary practice from Trinity College Dublin.



"The weird and wonderful world of the Brontës, in any guise, is never less than intriguing, but in  Charlotte  Martina Devlin has surpassed all expectation.

The story takes place in 1845 and closes in 1932. Our narrator for the most part is Mary Bell, an elderly woman living a shabby gentile existence in Banagher, Co Offaly. Mary feeds us the story in perfectly measured portions, recalling her life as the second wife to Charlotte Brontë's grief-stricken widower — and indeed, her own marriage as second fiddle to Charlotte. In her way, she is also grieving for Charlotte, with whom she forged a friendship when the author spent part of her honeymoon in Ireland.

Devlin has blended fact with fiction to superb effect — what is true and what is imagined become irrelevant — and I urge readers to resist the temptation to fact-check until you have finished the novel. Otherwise, you risk breaking the spell of this engrossing and powerful story.

Beautifully written and never less then convincing, this subtle, sophisticated novel is an absolute pleasure to read.



'[Charlotte] is a wonderful, imaginative exploration by a deft novelist who understands the possibilities of historical fiction only because she's sensitive to its parameters.'



'[Devlin gives] a fresh perspective on the story of one of literature's most fascinating writers.'



'It's a wonderful novel.'



'Intriguing and absorbing.'